By Chris Oddo | Friday April 28, 2017
A strong start by an upstart could not slow Rafael Nadal’s progress at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Friday. The Spaniard continued his perfect clay-court season with a 7-6(1), 6-2 victory over 20-year-old Korean Hyeon Chung.
More: Murray, Thiem to Square off in Barcelona Semis
Nadal improves to 27-5 on the season and 8-0 on his beloved red clay. He is the ATP's win leader thus far in 2017.
Nadal will face Horacio Zeballos in the semifinal. Zeballos blew past Karen Khachanov, 6-4, 6-1, to reach his first semifinal of the season.
He had to rally from a break down in the first set to claim the opener in a tiebreaker. Chung had no answer for Nadal in the breaker, dropping the first six points before getting on the board.
In the second set Nadal dropped just four sets on serve as he cruised to the finish line, concluding his triumph in one hour and 44 minutes.
Chung raced past Alexander Zverev on Thursday to reach his third career quarterfinal. He drops to 0-5 lifetime against the Top 10.